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Greetings, This is my first post here and will seek your advise/help. I have a Agatha Christie fountain pen where the piston was not smooth when turned after being left in the drawers for several years without regular use. The pen set was dear to me as it was a graduation gift from my dad and therefore I decided to send it in for servicing via Montblanc Taiwan. Montblanc Taiwan feedback that due to the age of the pen the servicing has to be done in Hamburg which I agreed. After being checked by Hamburg, I was quoted by Montblanc Taiwan NTD16,900 or equivalent of Euro 500 for: 1. Cap repair 2 Body repair 3. W1_Service Flat rate 1 At this point I have asked for the reasons and pictures for the quote. First response was there are hairline cracks on both the body and cap but the hairline crack on the cap is too fine and cannot be captured on picture. They therefore re-quoted me at NTD10,100 or USD300 for the last 2 items on their own accord. Montblanc Taiwan's mentioned that the piston will need cleaning and greasing to resolve this issue, However what puzzles me is to do the cleaning and greasing on the piston, the body of the fountain pen has to be replaced with a new one as they are designed as one unit. I have read that Montblanc encourages their customers to send their pen in for routine servicing and think that it is silly to have the body replaced each time to get the piston cleaned and greased. Please share your experience on the servicing of this fountain pen to help me make my decision. All the correspondence so far was done via Montblanc Taiwan and do you have experience with contacting Hamburg for direct answers? Thank you so much for reading and looking forward to your comments,

Hey there, FPN Pelikan experts. I need some advice, please. I have just purchased a used Pelikan 400NN with an EF 14K 585 solid gold semi flex nib, manufactured in 1958-59. Piston filler, celluloid tortoise green stripe, gold plated metal parts, ebonite hard rubber elongated feeder, fitted with original ebonite feeder ring. It is described as being in 'absolutely mint, originally preserved condition and not restored'. I have not received the pen yet. My questions are as follows: Are there any well known weak points in this pen which might need attention? Would you recommend that I have the pen serviced / restored? I am no expert in Pelikans and have no idea about the history of the pen or when it was last used. 55 years is quite a long time - I suspect that certain components may have weakened to the point of failure. Any advice you can offer will be received most gratefully. Many thanks. Mike